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China’s foreign minister makes rare visit to Myanmar border

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister called for stability and a crackdown on cross-border criminal activity along the country’s border with Myanmar, during an unusual visit to the volatile region on Tuesday. The 2,129-kilometer (1,323-mile) border runs through densely forested mountains and has long been notorious for drug smuggling into China from the “Golden Triangle” region where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. The United Nations says the production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military seized power in 2021, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year as eradication efforts have dropped off and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade. During his visit, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said local Communist Party and government departments, the People’s Liberation Army, police and civilian bodies should join in “strengthening the border defense system.” Qin called for improvements in “maintaining distinct and st...

Campaigners call for fossil fuel deadline, more climate aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Environmental campaigners urged climate envoys from dozens of nations gathering Tuesday in Berlin to discuss a global deadline for phasing out fossil fuels and ways of increasing aid to poor countries hit by global warming.About 40 countries, including the United States, China, India and Brazil, are attending the Petersberg Climate Dialogue being held in the German capital. The two-day meeting is a key negotiating step in the run-up to this year’s international climate conference in Dubai, known as COP28. Campaign groups are concerned that countries such as the U.S., COP28 host United Arab Emirates and the European Union back the idea of carbon capture as a means of allowing oil and gas extraction to continue or even expand. Scientists say technologies for removing planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere aren’t proven at scale and could require huge investments at the expense of cheaper alternatives such as solar and wind power.“They are trying their be...

Pope says Vatican involved in secret Ukraine peace mission

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

Pope Francis stated that the Vatican was involved in a mission of peace to end the conflict involving Russia and Ukraine. He added that he would be willing to assist with repatriating Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia or Russian occupied territory.The pope told reporters that he would reveal the mission when it was made public. "I will make it public when it becomes so," said the pope to reporters on a return flight from a three-day trip to Hungary."I believe that peace is made always by opening up channels. Peace can never be achieved by closing channels...This is not an easy task."The pope also said that he spoke about the situation in Ukraine both with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, and with Metropolitan Hilarion (bishop), a representative from the Russian Orthodox Church of Budapest."Everyone is interested in the path to peace," he said.Francis has been pleading for peace almost every week since Russia invaded Ukraine on 20 February, 2022. He has also expressed his de...

Single family residence sells for $1.7 million in San Jose

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

3410 Picadilly Drive – Google Street ViewA house located in the 3400 block of Picadilly Drive in San Jose has a new owner. The 1,576-square-foot property, built in 1960, was sold on April 7, 2023. The $1,660,000 purchase price works out to $1,053 per square foot. The property features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, and two parking spaces. There’s also a pool in the backyard. The unit sits on a 7,616-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:On Pembridge Drive, San Jose, in March 2023, a 1,581-square-foot home was sold for $1,635,000, a price per square foot of $1,034. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.In October 2022, a 2,697-square-foot home on Buckingham Drive in San Jose sold for $2,100,000, a price per square foot of $779. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.A 1,774-square-foot home on the 1300 block of Lindsay Way in San Jose sold in August 2022, for $1,555,000, a price per square foot of $877. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathroo...

Farm Report: Mayer bounces back after slow start at High-A

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

There’s been an increased focus on the Red Sox farm system.That’s to be expected when a team is underperforming, struggling, or rebuilding at the major league level; when the present isn’t fun, turn to the future.Entering the season the Red Sox farm ranked anywhere from 10th (Baseball America) to 23rd (Keith Law, The Athletic). On the bright side, BA ranked Boston in their top-10 for the first time in over half a decade; a significant jump from when they ranked dead last in 2019.On the other hand, Law wonders if there’s a “future MLB starter anywhere on their full-season rosters.” By his evaluation, Boston’s “group of position-player prospects is probably in the upper half of farm systems, but their group of pitching prospects is one of the weakest.”It’s worth noting that Brayan Bello exceeded his rookie eligibility last season and doesn’t factor into Law’s equation. Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez believes that Bello has Cy Young potential.Down on the farm, Marcelo Mayer is the organi...

Sudanese fleeing clashes flood port city, borders with Egypt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese fleeing the fighting between rival generals in their capital flooded an already overwhelmed city on the Red Sea and Sudan’s northern borders with Egypt, as explosions and gunfire echoed Monday in Khartoum.Many exhausted Sudanese and foreigners arrived in Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport, joining thousands who have waited for days to be evacuated out of the chaos-stricken nation. Others have been driven in packed buses and trucks, seeking shelter in Egypt, Sudan’s northern neighbor.“Much of the capital has become empty,” said Abdalla al-Fatih, a Khartoum resident, “all (residents of) our street fled the war.”The fighting, now in its third week, has turned Khartoum and its neighboring city of Omdurman into a battlefield. Fierce clashes taking place inside residential neighborhoods that have become “ghost areas,” residents say. The conflict, which capped months of worsening tensions, pits the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, against a rival p...

Hong Kong to slash elected seats in setback to democracy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader on Tuesday stepped up a campaign to shut down further democratic challenges by unveiling plans to eliminate most directly elected seats on local district councils, the last major political representative bodies chosen by the public.Chief Executive John Lee said the proposed overhaul will reduce the proportion of directly elected seats in the municipal-level organization to about 20% — from some 90% currently. That is even lower than the level when these bodies were first set up in the 1980s, when Hong Kong was ruled by Britain. He said the rest of the 470 seats will be filled by government appointees, rural committee chairpersons and others elected by local committees that are staffed by many pro-establishment figures.The planned electoral changes are widely seen as part of Beijing’s increasing control over the former British colony, which was promised autonomy when it returned to China in 1997. Two years ago, Hong Kong already amended its e...

Media: Ugandan minister shot and killed by bodyguard

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

A bodyguard shot and killed a government minister in Uganda early Tuesday in an apparent private dispute, according to local media. The victim, Charles Engola, served in the government of President Yoweri Museveni as the junior minister in charge of labor. He was a retired army colonel. The attacker, who has not been publicly identified, then shot himself, according to state broadcaster UBC and others. The shooting took place inside Engola’s home in a suburb of the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Police detectives are now at the crime scene. The motive was not immediately clear, but the local press said there had been an apparent dispute over the guard’s wages. “Witnesses claim that the soldier was yelling that he had not been paid for a long time despite working for a minister,” the online newspaper NilePost reported. The incident is likely to send shockwaves in a country where other high-profile officials have been killed in gun attacks over the years. In 2021, a former army...

Australian government cracks down on smoking and vaping

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s tobacco tax will be increased by billions of dollars over the next four years as the government cracks down on smoking and vaping.Recreational vaping will be banned as the government seeks to prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to nicotine, Health Minister Mark Butler said Tuesday.The tobacco tax would be raised by 5% a year starting from September, Butler said — a total increase of 3.3 billion Australian dollars ($2.2 billion) over four years. This follows an AU$234-million ($157-million) boost for tougher regulation of e-cigarettes, including new controls on their importation and packaging.The government will work with the states and territories to shut down the sale of vapes in retail and convenience stores and make it easier to get a prescription for therapeutic use.To tackle the growing black market, the government will increase the product standards for vapes, including by restricting flavors and colors. It will require pha...

Albanian charged with supporting terror attacks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:36 GMT

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian law enforcement authorities on Tuesday charged an Albanian man with supporting terror attacks in Western Europe on social media.A statement from the special prosecutor’s office against corruption and organized crime accused Bledar Zeneli of promoting and urging terror attacks, falsifying documents and weapon possession.If convicted, he faces up to 17 years in prison.Using a false profile on Facebook Zeneli and other people, who have yet to be identified, supported terror attacks in Nice, France, and Vienna in October and November 2020 “and other terror attacks and radical actions from extremist persons,” according to prosecutors.About two-thirds of Albania’s 2.8 million people are Muslims. A decade ago hundreds of them joined radical groups in Syria and Iraq, although the mainstream religious leaders urged believers not to become members.No Albanians have joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq in the last seven to eight years, authorities say. The ...